As is well known, waste of various types must be collected and removed from public areas such as parks, city streets and sidewalks, town squares, outdoor shopping centers, and the like. Private property owners also strive to maintain their property in a neat and clean condition. Articles such as litter and pet waste must be collected and removed in order for the area to remain attractive for people to visit and use.
In particular, pet waste poses significant problems if it is not collected and removed promptly. Pet waste creates unpleasant odors and can damage landscaping and flora. Pet waste also has been known to carry disease and to promote the activities of disease-carrying insects and the like. For these reasons, many cities and municipalities have enacted ordinances that require pet owners to collect and remove their pet's waste immediately after the waste is deposited on the ground.
In light of these well-known circumstances, many devices have been designed to aid people who must collect and remove waste from the floor or ground. It is obviously not safe or hygienic for a person to handle most waste directly, so many of these devices attempt to allow the person who is collecting the waste to avoid having to actually touch the waste. Most of the devices known in the prior art also attempt to provide for easy disposal of the waste after it is collected from the ground. Generally, the devices are designed such that the waste is collected directly into a plastic bag, which can then be placed in an appropriate waste receptacle.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,067 to Travis and U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,310 to Scripter disclose waste collection devices comprising elongated handles with a frame or bag support member attached at one end. The frame members hold a bag and a single clip is provided to secure the bag on the frame member. The devices are employed by a person holding the handle and then using a scooping motion so that the frame member with a bag attached thereto receives the waste in the bag.
Unfortunately, these devices suffer from significant drawbacks. For example, each provides that the bag is wrapped around the frame member such that it substantially surrounds the bag member, however, the single clip is inadequate to retain the bag in this position during and after waste collection. Vigorous scooping and/or heavy articles of waste could cause the bag to become unwrapped from the frame member such that the bag falls through the frame. The bag may remain clipped by the single clip, but it will not be in the proper position for additional collections. In such a situation, multiple articles of waste could not be collected without utilizing multiple bags or by repeatedly rewrapping the bag around the frame. Further, the frame members that hold the bag shown for each device have a relatively straight section for contacting the ground during waste collection. Such a design feature severely limits the angles at which the device may be effectively used for waste collection.
Finally, due to the design of these devices, there is a substantial likelihood that the outer surface of the bag would come into contact with the waste being collected. Because it is the outer surface that would be directly handled by the person collecting waste after waste collection, this creates a unhygienic situation and at least partially defeats the purpose of using such a device for waste collection.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,188,878 to Kraus also discloses a waste collection device having an elongated handle, a bag frame member, and a clamp. In this device, however, the bag frame member consists of a tubular member that is configured to act as a “scoop blade.” The bag frame member holds a bag, preferably a plastic grocery bag, with part of the open end of the bag wrapped around the outside of the bag frame member.
This device also has significant drawbacks. First, the size and heft of the tubular member—which is located at the end of a long handle—makes the device difficult to use. A pet owner, for example, is most likely to be using the device while walking his or her pet on a leash. He or she will not be able to use both hands to operate the device while still controlling his or her pet. Second, the bag does not wrap completely around its closed end. This creates the strong probability that waste will contact the outside of the bag during collection, which, again, significantly reduces the hygienic benefits of using the device instead of directly handling the waste.
U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. No. 2003/0085581 of Jemison discloses another similar device for collecting and disposing of waste. The device includes an elongated handle and a trapezoidal loop on which a bag is secured. The loop is attached to the elongated handle at an oblique angle. The device of the Jemison application also includes a second clip for clipping the excess material around the mouth of the bag. In such a configuration, the bag will substantially surround the loop for holding the bag and a portion of the handle.
As with the device disclosed in the '878 patent to Kraus, the device of the Jemison application also does not provide for adequate coverage of the outside of the bag so as to protect it from contact with the waste being collected. Further, the trapezoidal loop has a knife edge or serrated edge, which is likely to damage the bag and cause it to fail. Also, the trapezoidal loop as well as the angle between the handle and the loop severely limit the angles at which the device may be oriented with respect to the ground for effective scooping of the waste. The design of the Jemison device is such that a “raking” motion must be used to collect waste. In other words, a user of the device must drag the trapezoidal loop along the ground in a direction towards him or her in order to collect waste. The design of the device does not allow for much, if any, flexibility in the use of the device. These aspects of the design make the device less convenient to use.
In summary, the devices of the prior art do not adequately protect a person from coming into contact with waste to be collected. These devices leave a large amount of the outside of the bag exposed and susceptible to contact with the waste. This contravenes one of the main purposes of using a device to collect waste: preventing unhygienic contact with the waste. The devices of the prior art also limit the ease of use by restricting the angle with respect to the ground at which the device can be effectively used.
What is needed, therefore, is a device or tool for collecting waste that will minimize the possibility of a person coming into contact with waste that is being collected. The device should also be simple in construction and easy and convenient to use. The device should allow a person to make multiple waste collections using a single bag without having to re-situate the bag after each collection.